Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata

He used to say that of all the fair and goodly fortune that had fallen to his lot the thing that gave him the greatest gratification was that his victory over the Spartans at Leuctra came while his father and mother were still living. [*](Cf. Moralia, 786 D and 1098 B, and Plutarch’s Life of Coriolanus, chap. iv. (215 C).)

It was his habit to appear at all times with a well-groomed body and a cheerful countenance, but on the day after that battle he went forth unwashed and with a look of dejection. When his friends asked if anything distressing had befallen him, he said, Nothing; but yesterday I found myself feeling a pride greater than is well. Therefore to-day I am chastising my immoderate indulgence in rejoicing.

Knowing that the Spartans were wont to conceal such calamities as this, and wishing to bring out clearly the magnitude of their disaster, he did not grant them leave to remove their dead all together, but separately by cities, so that it was seen that the Spartan dead numbered over a thousand. [*](The story is told with slightly more details by Pausanias, ix. 13. 11 and 12.)

When Jason, monarch of Thessaly, arrived at Thebes as an ally, he sent two thousand pieces of gold to Epameinondas, who was then sadly in want. Epameinondas did not take the money, but with a

On a later occasion, when the king of the Persians sent twenty-five thousand pounds to him, he assailed Diomedon bitterly because he had made such a long voyage to corrupt Epameinondas; and he bade him say to the king that if the king should hold views conducive to the good of the Thebans, he should have Epameinondas as his friend for nothing; but if the reverse, then as his enemy. [*](Cf. Cornelius Nepos, Epaminondas, xv. 4, where the same story is told in more words, and Aelian, Varia Historia, v. 5, where the fact is recorded in very few words.)